The Doctor is In

Another Week

Oh well, another painful week, I'm afraid. But I see that I've got some more comments so that ought to cheer me up.

I tell you, it's a mind-field out there - it's so easy to do the wrong thing and cause an upset. You know what I've discovered is that not everybody who works in mental healthcare is necessarily very sane themselves. Mostly it's O.K. But when the pressure is really on then it can be surprising the way some people jump. I'm not wanting to lay blame exactly; it's more of an observation. I suppose that when it comes to it we're ALL in the same boat. Personally, I'm finding my feet in the christian faith and that really does produce some startling results. E.g. Love your enemies. Wow! That's enormous. Anyway, I've been up to my neck in it again. That crazy joke-that-went-wrong has terminated a two-year long attempt to get myself sorted with a viable alternative to hospital treatment. I was all set up for a summer out in the country planting vegetables and eating of the harvest. Bad news. I annoyed the hierarchy I think. They got shot of me like in some Greek tragedy. My friends (such as I have) have been consoling. I'm obviously out looking for sympathy. But there is a serious moral to it all: when somebody who has gone so far as to declare a psychiatric disorder makes a mess of things then it behoves those in positions of authority to behave impecably towards said person for fear of causing further trouble. What I mean is that difficult situations need to be handled with care. Care needs to be taken. For normal everyday folk, a bad day is just that - a bad DAY. But for those of us with a disturbed recent past, a bad day can set off a whole load of stuff, albeit unintentionally, and I think that it's very important that people be given the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. After all, in workplace or school situations there is usually a procedure for dealing with problems that arise, often involving verbal warnings and the like. Well, we're human beings too you know. We deserve an equal chance at justice as well as the any other.

Ah, you can tell that I'm pretty down about it all. Headache, heartache; a sorry tale. How you doin'? Get back to you later. 'Bye for now, Alan.

Yeah, so I feel hard done by. Bitter and twisted. The place I was going has dumped me. I'm gutted. So far, the only good thing is that I haven't gone psychotic over it. It's just this sort of emotional trauma that sends me off on one. Other than that, it's all a bit of a mess. Like being in a combat zone. We'll see where I get to. Probably I should count my blessings. That's what a psychologist would say. The truth is that I think I've been had: or that I've missed an opportunity to remedy the situation. I was too diplomatic, wasn't I? Not wanting to offend when really I'm furious. But, you see, mad people aren't allowed to actually get mad. It's taken as a sign of illness. Oh, I'm just making excuses maybe. All the best to you. You know who you are...

G'night.

Posted by alan at April 15, 2004 09:43 PM